


What does it take to make a family?

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Blood and Injury, Cute Garfield Logan, Gen, Minor Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Teambuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 13:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20892590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: They were broken, beaten, bruised and so very tired, but that doesn't stop them from caring.A family doesn't stop loving it's members just because they've had a long night. And that's what they are now, right? A family?





	What does it take to make a family?

**Author's Note:**

> God, I love Titans.

It was late, and they were all tired. So tired it was almost unbelievable.

They’d all had a very long night, and when they had all limped home, beaten and bruised, the sun was beginning to rise and paint the sky in hues of orange and pink. At the sight, Kory looked a little less tired, a little less worn out. Defiantly much better than the rest of them anyway.

Dick only relaxed when Rachel shut the door behind them and slid the lock home into its latch, and he collapsed heavily into the nearest chair. Rachel did the same on the couch, while Garfield trudged off to the bathroom and Kory made too much noise in the kitchen. “You know, I don’t think we need to get our ass kicked _every_ time we get into fights,” Rachel complained, voice muffled from where her face was pressed into the couch cushions. They were probably dirty, the housecleaning didn’t look too good from what he had seen when he walked in, but Dick didn’t have the energy to reprimand her.

“It comes with the territory,” Dick replied, holding back a yawn. “If you want to fight the bad guys, you better believe that they’re gonna fight back. That’s why we need to get better.”

Kory walked into the room, her high-heels clicking on the hardwood floor, and held out an open bag of salt and vinegar chips to both Dick and Rachel. Only Dick accepted her offer. “Right now, we need to take a nice long nap and find out where we can get some sort of meal in this damn town. I’ll even settle for pizza and I’m _so_ sick of pizza.” Her eyes grazed over Dick and settled on Rachel. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m not sure,” Rachel said. “I’m a little sore, but it might just be a bruise. I feel like my _body_ is one big bruise.” Slowly, she sat up and started to lift up the back of her shirt. “I think it’s on my shoulder.”

“Let me see...” Dick frowned as he stood from the chair, but Kory was already there by Rachel’s side and Dick stopped awkwardly in place.

Eyebrows raised, Kory looked at him. “Cool your jets, hotshot. I’ve got this. You go check in on Gar and make sure he isn’t trying to drown himself in the toilet bowl. He’s awfully quiet.”

“Uh, OK,” Dick said, backing away. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Well, if you need me, just shout.” He turned around and made his way to the bathroom, and when he lightly tried the handle, the lock jingled. “Gar? It’s me. Can I come in?”

There was a pause. “I’m naked.”

Sighing through his nose, Dick rested his forehead on the wood. “No, you’re not.”

He heard from muffled grumbling through the door about privacy before the lock was being turned and Dick pulled his head away just in time for Garfield to open the door. He stood barefoot on the dirty tiles, his shoes and socks kicked off in the corner, his jacket resting over the lid of the toilet. “Do you need the bathroom?”

Dick looked him up and down. He looked tired. “I actually wanted to talk to you. Can I come in?”

Garfield looked defeated. “I mean, it’s not as if I have a choice either way.” He moved away from the doorway and left the door ajar, a clear if a relucent offer to enter. Dick pushed through the door and closed it quietly behind him.

There was an opened bottle of painkillers on the counter, and the sink had the tap running with blood on the edges. The floor was wet as if he had been splashing water onto his face, and his shirt was soaked with water and droplets of bright red blood. He stiffly peeled the shirt off of himself and dropped it unceremoniously on the slick ground. Dick had known he had taken a beating like the rest of them, but Garfield’s side was coloured with deep purples and vivid reds welts from where he had been hit and smashed against a wall. Dick found himself balking at the sight. “I knew you got hurt but I didn’t think it was that bad.”

Grunting, Garfield looked through the cupboards for a first aid kit and thankfully pulled out the white box with the comical red plus and placed it heavily on the counter. “To be fair, neither did I,” he said as he opened the box and began digging through it. “This is the first time I’m seeing it. It’s... real bad. I think I’m going to be sick.”

Dick wanted to move forward and help him, but after what had happened with Rachel, as brief as it was, he wasn’t too sure that his actions would be appreciated. Instead, he glanced to the sink while he considered what to do. “Is that your blood?”

Not pausing his searching, Garfield flicked his eyes down and glanced at the sink. “I think so. The tiger didn’t bite anyone, so I think it might have just been mine from when I was slammed against the wall. There’s blood on my shirt, but I don’t think _that’s_ mine. I might have just been in the spray.”

At a loss of words, Dick just said, “Ew,”

Finally, Garfield triumphantly pulled out a white tube of cream and a roll of scratchy bandages. A few bandaids fell out with the movement and he impatiently shoved them back in before closing the lid of the first aid kid, pushing it to the side, and carefully started unscrewing the tiny cap of the tube of cream. “Thank god Donna came when she did,” he tried to make small talk while he squirted out a generous amount of the gross looking cream onto his hand and tried to smear it over the painful-looking bruise on his side. “We might not have made it out. Not in one piece, anyway, and I _like_ having all my limbs. I _need_ my limbs. They’re very useful.” He laughed- a breathy sound. “They come in _handy_.”

“Right,” it was very hard for Dick to hold in his laughter, but he managed it. You don’t live with the Batman for as long as Dick had without learning how to pretend that humour didn’t exist. He glanced down at the vivid bruise that covered all of Garfield’s right side, and how he was struggling to cover the whole area with the cream. “Do you... want some help?”

Reluctantly, Garfield dropped his hand to grip onto the edge of the counter, the leftover cream blending into the fake while marble. Diligently, Dick took up the tube and squeezed a large dollop onto his palm and gently began to rub it over the violent looking bruise, wincing at the way Garfield hissed in pain. He took the opportunity to gently prod the area and Garfield yelped and jumped away. “Ow! What the hell are you doing man? That doesn’t _feel_ like helping.”

“Well, the good news is that your ribs aren’t broken,” Dick said, and from what he was seeing, it really was good news indeed. “But they should be. I’ve seen people break them with less than that. You’re the only person I know who can _almost_ break a rib.”

Garfield laughed. “I have talents in strange places. I’m just unique, that’s all.”

“You’re certainly unique alright,” Dick said as he continued to gently coat the bruise, much more careful than before, worried about any pain he might cause. A glance at Garfield’s face and Dick saw that he was gritting his teeth, but not crying out in pain, so that was an improvement. “I don’t know anyone else in the world that can turn into a big green tiger. Speaking of, is there any reason when you rushed in back there when I distinctly ordered you not to?”

Under his fingers, Garfield flinched, and Dick wasn’t entirely sure that it was from him handling the bruise. “I wasn’t concentrating,” he said eventually. “I don’t know how many times I can explain to you all that the tiger and I are two different beings. When I’m in control, the tiger is inside me trying to get out, and when the tiger’s in control, I’m forced to sit back and watch. But we both have some pull. The tiger always tried to warn me when there are threats or when people don’t smell right, and I’m always trying to keep the tiger from killing people and eating their brains. We don’t control the other, but we have influence and pull. It was like... I blinked and the tiger took the opportunity to rush in and didn’t listen to me when I was telling at it not to. I think it was sick of being kept in the sidelines all the time and just made a choice to fight without me.”

Dick still wasn’t sure he understood, despite how many times it had been carefully explained to him. It was all very confusing. “I think it’s safe to say that you both have a fondness for Rachel.” He said, testing the waters. For his part, Garfield didn’t outwardly react. “I don’t know what your reaction was, but when Rachel was tossed around, the tiger went crazy. Feral, even.”

The subtle rise and fall of Garfield’s shoulders told Dick that he had shrugged, but it was only slight and almost reluctant. “We share feelings and emotions, wants and needs. I care about Rachel, and that’s transferred to the tiger. It likes seeing her in danger even less than I do. It’s... very territorial.” He snorted a bit, and Dick looked at his face in the mirror. “It once tried to bring her a dead bird on one of our runs when we hadn’t eaten in a while, and it took all my will power to talk it out of that.”

Humming, Dick took the roll of bandage out of Garfield’s hand and ignored his protests as he overpowered him and slowly began to unwind it. It was rough and had decoloured to an ugly yellow colour from age, but Garfield didn’t complain. “We’re gonna need to work on that. We can’t have you losing control like you did today, especially in battle or something just as dangerous. What if we need you and your tiger decides it’s sick of us and runs off? It’s a liability that we have to consider.”

Garfield sent him a very annoyed look in the mirror. “I’ve been working on it, but _you_ try controlling a hungry tiger that claws at your insides. It’s not easy.”

“Why would it be hungry?” Dick frowned. Now he was more confused than ever. “You’re _always _eating. Every time I don’t see you with some sort of food in your hand I actually get a little bit worried.”

Thankfully, Garfield laughed, short and sweet, but it was gone almost as quickly as it arrived. “You try eating enough to feed you and a _literal_ wild animal inside you. And to make matters worse, don’t eat meat, which makes it very angry. When I let it out, it always wants to fight because it thinks that it’ll get a meaty meal out of it and would finally be full.” He glanced away, looking ashamed and a little bit sick. “I used to be a lot better at stopping it from biting or killing people than I am now.”

Dick knew what he meant. They all remembered the asylum, and the cage, and the man that Garfield had killed. It had haunted him for so long after it that Dick wasn’t entirely sure that he was over it. Ever since, he- the _tiger_\- had killed more people and bitten chunks out of enemies than it ever had before the asylum. The change was almost shocking.

No one could ever forget Garfield’s chin coated in another man’s blood.

“That’s fine,” Dick said gently. “Controlling it half the time is better than controlling it none of the time.”

Garfield laughed, and it was a little bitter, his face screwed up ugly like he was sucking on a lemon. “I think that lately, it’s doing a better job of controlling me then I am of controlling it.”

They were interrupted by a loud hammering on the bathroom door. “Are you two alright in there?” Came Kory’s voice. “Or have you been kidnapped without a sound?”

“We’re all good,” Dick shouted back through the wood, not able to open the door to talk to her face to face while he had his arms wrapped around Garfield’s body as he tried to affix the bandage, his face half-pressed into Garfield’s side. “Thanks for checking in.”

“Rachel and I aren’t hurt too badly, so we’re going to get something to eat. I thought tacos were a good idea, but Rachel said it would be better to get a meal that we could all eat-” Garfield smiled in gratitude even though Rachel wasn’t here and Kory couldn’t see him. “-so we’re going to go hunting for something else. Maybe sushi or pasta or- _ugh_\- pizza. You two can hold down the fort?”

Dick paused helping Garfield to face the door, holding the rolled end of the bandage, crouched down on the ground. “We’re good here. Just be careful- it’s been a long day, the last thing we need is to trip while we’re crossing the finish line.”

Kory laughed, her voice floating through the wood. “You and your stupid metaphors. I just had a look around the hotel- there are only three beds. Are you alright with that or should one of us bunk on the couch?”

“I’m fine with sharing the bed unless you want some time alone,” Dick replied, trying and failing not to smile.

“It’s a date,” Kory giggled sweetly as her nails tapped on the wood and then her shoes disappeared from under the door and her heels clicked loudly away from the door until there was nothing but silence.

He could imagine her face, the bright smile that stretched across her cheeks and made her nose scrunch up, the way she slowly pushed her hair behind her ear with the back of her hand, the way she tilted her head so her hair would fall over her shoulder, how she ran her tongue over her teeth-

He stood up and looked at Garfield’s face, who was biting his lip hard to stop himself from smiling, but he wasn’t doing a very good job of it. “What?” He demanded.

“So uh...” Garfield began, sniggering like a kid with a secret, or a child in a candy shop. “You and Kory...”

Dick made a face and a slightly tightened the bandage he was wrapping. Garfield hissed and returned his hands to the edge of the counter. “What about me and Kory? There is no ‘me and Kory’.”

Garfield looked sceptical. “_Right_. Because the two of you sharing a bed and making love-eyes at each other whenever you don’t think the rest of us are looking definatly sounds like ‘you and Kory’ aren't a thing.”

“Hardy-har,” Dick said, lightening up on the bandages. He wanted to threaten the kid, not hurt him more. “There’s nothing going on with me and Kory. She’s just... great. I mean, _really_ great. I mean, look at her, she’s just-” he stopped at the look on Garfield’s face. He looked smug, as if he had finally convinced someone to disclose their deepest and darkest secret. Which he sort of did. “Shut up,” Dick said despite Garfield not actually saying anything, and ducked his head and went back to work to cover his face with his hair when he felt his cheeks heat up. “What about you and Rachel? What’s going on there?”

He felt more than saw Garfield stiffen up. “Uh... nothing? I don’t think so, anyway. If something is happening, it’s not with me.”

“You don’t like her?”

“I mean, of course, I like her. I love her, even, but I think it’s more like a sister than a...”

“Girlfriend?” Dick suggested. Garfield just shrugged and looked at his beaten and bruised reflection in the mirror. They both looked like shit. Garfield hated mirrors almost as much as Rachel did because it showed him a version of himself that he hated. “You can say it. It’s just a word. Besides, I doubt it’ll happen- she’d kick your ass.”

That made Garfield smile, and he actually had to hold his side to stop himself from laughing so hard. “I would say the same thing for Kory, but here she is, falling head over heels for you.”

Smiling, Dick finally tied off the rest of the bandage and clipped it with one of those weird teeth things that he found once he fished around in the first aid kit a little bit, and gently ran his hands over his handiwork. He always had been very good at the aftermath patch-up job. “You should be fine,” he said, effectively changing the subject. If Garfield noticed, he didn’t comment. “Rest up for a few days. I’ll get you some more painkillers tomorrow, some that haven’t been hidden away in some dusty cupboard for its lifetime. I’ll get you an icepack too- that should reduce the puffiness and help lower the level of bruising.”

Garfield turned away from Dick and slowly tried to pull his sopping wet shirt over his head before he gave up and dropped it into the sink with a defeated grunt. “Thanks,” he looked Dick over, his eyes tentatively darting. “What about you? Are you alright?”

“I’m all good,” Dick held up a hand when Garfield tried to get closer. “I actually know how to take care of myself during a fight.”

“Hey,” Garfield made a face, a little offended. “I’m getting there.”

Chuckling, Dick reached out and ruffled Garfield’s hair. It was a little wet, and it stuck up in odd angles when Dick quickly pulled away before Garfield could slap at him. “I know you are. And you’re doing a pretty good job too. We’ll get there together.” He said as he reached over to the sink and pulled out the wet and blood-stained shirt, ringing it in the basin for a moment so it didn’t drip on the floor.

Satisfied, Dick gave Garfield a final once-over before nodding to him and made his way to the bathroom door. “Come out when you’re ready, alright? Kory and Rachel should be home soon. I’ll set the table.” He jerked his chin towards the toilet, where Garfield’s jacket was resting over the closed lid. “Put on your jacket. It’s cold tonight, and the last thing we need is for you to be injured _and_ sick.”

Nodding absently, Garfield bent over and snatched up his jacket, bending slowly at the waist as not to aggravate his injury. “Yeah, sure. Thanks, Dick. You’re a real lifesaver.”

“No worries,” Dick smiled. “I’ll try and stop Kory and Rachel from eating all the food before you get there.”

Dick closed the door behind him, but not before he surprised a laugh out of Garfield, and even though they were all beaten and bruised and broken and tired beyond compare, at the end of the day, it was all worth it. It would always be worth it.


End file.
